Teen Titans: Origins
by Sifu Soul
Summary: Preseason one. The four Titans after four months as a unit find themselves frustrated, angry, unwanted, and searching for answers in addition to trying to stop the local Kingpin. Until one day a pod falls from the sky...Revised Chapter 2 Uploaded. ON HIAT
1. Prologue: A Gift from the Skies

Author's Notes: Howdy. First Fic. If you're reading, you have my utmost gratitude and thanks. I hope I do not leave you disappointed and I do leave you feeling a little bit satisfied. Please R/R. If you feel you need to flame, please leave a name and don't be an anonymous coward. I may do a Reader's response section to my first groups of reviews. I intend to do an epic fic that plays off of this one. If that does happen, encouragement is appreciated but don't bully me into it. This IS, after all, a hobby and your reviews and my own satisfaction are my only reward. Enjoy!  
  
About the Fic: This takes place about three or four months before the start of Season 1. The Titans have not quite gelled yet so look for relations between or heroes to not be exactly as cozy before the start of Final Exam.  
  
Disclaimer: I have no official or unofficial involvement with any characters, places, or beer companies mentioned below. Not mine. Don't sue.  
  
Quote of the Update:  
  
_"…This whole thing is a travesty and a sham and a mockery! It's… a travashamokery!"  
  
"No making up words…"  
  
"Garfinfugit!"_  
  
-Miller Lite: President of Beers. commercial.  
  
Teen Titans: Origins  
  
Prologue - A Gift from the Skies  
  
The four stood staring into the pod that had, quite literally, busted right through the front window. Beast Boy had simply been playing a game on his Game Station before the object had crashed right into the top floor of the Titan Tower. The pod itself was black, but it was emblazoned with a crimson animal of some kind, perhaps a bird. It was strangely intimidating, while it was simply an ovular pod, it seemed to radiate hostility. Of course, the fact that an extraterrestrial space capsule had simply fallen right in their front yard could cause someone to feel slightly anxious.   
  
The first thing the team had done was make sure it wasn't a bomb. The Titans had been established in Jump City less than four months ago, and not everyone had welcomed them with open arms. This group not only included criminals, but police officers, conservatives, and basically all around unwelcoming people as well. They had received many a bomb threat and many a bomb. Fortunately, Cyborg had sensors for such things and they were generally not a problem. Bombs, believe it or not, hadn't even been the least of the teams worries as of late.   
  
Fanatical church groups, Christian or not, protested Raven's very existence, saying that her presence was a taint upon their city. They chose to ignore that fact that, with the exception of Gotham, Jump City had THE highest crime rate in the US but, hey, what can you do? Her cause was not helped any more by the fact that some less stable people thought that she was a creature worthy of worship and that she would evoke her wrath upon all the nonbelievers. Another favorite of hers, boy sarcasm was a lovely emotion, was people bringing animals down to the tower to be sacrifices. She wasn't getting exactly a good reputation. She could pretend like she didn't care all she wanted to, but anyone with half a brain could tell she was disturbed by it. Except her tormentors, of course.  
  
Beast Boy was simply considered a freak. He was contacted by zoos and circuses all around the globe. Citizens would no sooner make fun of him than ask for his help. His green skin color made it difficult for him to go into the city unnoticed and he truly didn't appreciate any of the attention that he did get, especially be people his own age, who were often the most cruel of them all. He secretly wondered what the point of even attempting to be a hero was when he felt less animosity for the villains he captured that the people he saved…  
  
Cyborg had been reconstructed months before the Titans had been brought together. He was still dealing with the fact that he was now more robot than he was machine. He was strong, even before the accident, but he was still getting accustomed to his new cybernetic attributes. He found himself breaking glasses without meaning to, twisting off doorknobs. He'd still get surprised when he saw himself in the mirror, which he now went out of his way to avoid. He found himself missing things he had taken for granted before. He missed being able to feel breezes on his legs. He missed having itches on his knees. He missed being able to pop his knuckles. Things that once seemed so stupid and sometimes irritating he found himself longing for.   
  
Robin was frustrated. Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne had a major falling out when Robin got word of his invitation to lead the Titans by the Justice League. Batman had viciously stated that he was not ready and that a more appropriate candidate should be selected, like Speedy. This irritated the third boy wonder to no end and accepted the invitation anyway. Childish, he realized in hindsight, but he was to infuriated to care. Dick and Alfred had sat down with both of them to talk them through their feud, and were probably the only reason they were even on speaking terms. Before Robin left, Batman had told him that if he even needed help, to contact him. Robin now couldn't help but wonder if Bruce was right. Lets face it, the team wasn't really gelling and it had been handed, it seemed, just as many defeats as victories. He knew that with Cyborg's self pity, Raven's issues with the public, and Beast Boy's ever growing temper, the team was very close to falling apart.  
  
Someone had recently attempted a kamikaze assassination on the entire team by flying a helicopter right over the tower and activating an EMP, disabling not only the helicopter, but any security defenses inside the tower, also. The helicopter had crashed into the tower, exploding on impact. This heinous act was done by a local Kingpin that decided that he didn't appreciate the Titans on his turf. Luckily, The Titans had been out at a pizzeria, one of Robin's attempts to get them to bond, and were unharmed by the helicopter. The Tower was made out of some tough material, so it is doubtful that, even with the helicopter crash, any damage would be dealt to the occupants within. Cyborg would have been immediately rendered useless, however, and probably would have died if he was in the tower.   
  
Just another thing the team had to worry about.  
  
A bright side of this, however, was that the legislation ordered a perimeter around the tower that civilians would not have access to. No more protestors. No more sacrifices. The Titans agreed, though, something would have to be done about the Kingpin.  
  
But now, they're getting a break from all that, instead of receiving hate-mail, they received a nice shiny space capsule that crashed through the top floor, causing probably thousands of dollars worth of property damage. More than likely, the top floor would be completely of limits until it was repaired. Hooray.  
  
"You're sure?" Robin asked cautiously.  
  
"Yea, it's not a bomb. 'Sides that though there's nothing I can really tell ya. My systems are only familiar with things from _this_ planet." Cyborg responded, examining the readouts showing up in the computer in his arm. "I've never seen anything like it," he continued, walking around the object, deftly stepping over some of the debris that it's arrival caused.  
  
"Dude…" Beast Boy said in amazement as he closely examined the pod before him. The fact that the his game station and his games, including all of his saved files, had been obliterated had eluded him for now, "do ya really think its from space?" he asked with obvious excitement in his voice.  
  
Robin shrugged, "Could be…" He carefully approached it. It was big. The capsule, even after being embedded in the floor, came up to about mid-chest level on him and it was easily six, maybe seven feet long.   
  
"What should we do with it?" Cyborg asked. "We can't just leave it here. I mean…look at our house!" he said sweeping an arm, showcasing the wreckage in the wake of the pod's arrival.   
  
"I'm not quite sure what to do with it now." _The League would definitely want to know about it eventually_, he thought to himself.   
  
"Uh…Robin?" Raven asked, strangely hesitant.  
  
"What?" he responded, still looking at the pod.  
  
"Something is alive in there."   
  
Robin blinked in surprise, but otherwise betrayed no other emotion, and even that was hidden beneath his mask. Both Cyborg and Beast Boy, however whipped their heads around, staring in shock.  
  
"Really?" Cyborg queried.  
  
"Yea, pretty sure…" She said, sounding a bit surprised by her own realization.  
  
"Woah…Cool!!" Beast Boy said excitedly, wondering what kind of strange creature could be waiting inside the pod. He jumped over to the pod in enthusiasm and suddenly started poking and pushing places all over it. "Lets get it open!"  
  
"_STOP!!!"_ They all shouted in unison.  
  
"Huh?" He stopped in confusion before he was suddenly grabbed by the neck and yanked by a robot hand. _"Waahhh!!!"_  
  
Cyborg was right in his face before and seething, "_IDIOT!_ What if that had been some kinda freaky alien thing in there, huh!?!? With spikes and tentacles and 40 eyes that shot lasers and shot fire outta its ear! We'd all be food by now!!"  
  
"Gasp…my bad…uh, Cy? Can't breathe…," he wheezed, stars in his eyes.  
  
"Oh," he said, once again under estimating his strength. He unclenched the grip he had on Beast Boy's neck and he collapsed face first on the ground, "Sorry."  
  
Beast Boy coughed before weakly raising a hand, "…s'ok dude."  
  
Raven shook her head in disgust, folding her arms over her chest, "Imbeciles…" she muttered.  
  
Robin's face displayed no emotion. He considered his options, something could be trapped in there, but on the other side, it could be some sort of hideous monster. He frowned. The pros and cons battled in his head briefly while Beast Boy managed to pull him self up before the more compassionate side of him won out. Plus, he…just had this feeling that he could trust whatever was in there. "Whatever's in there might be trapped. I think we should open it."  
  
"_Hellooooo_, did you not just hear what I said?!"  
  
"We don't know it's a monster Cy…"  
  
"Yea, but…"  
  
_CRACK!!_  
  
Everyone jumped back from the pod as the loud cracking noise turned to be a narrow slip that split down the middle of the pod and white gasses emendated from the pod.  
  
Looks like no matter what the Titans thought, whatever was inside was getting out whether they liked it or not…  
  
End Prologue

* * *

Author's note: Kinda crappy I know but I just wanted at get the feel of the characters a little bit and set up meeting Starfire (which should be kinda obvious). I also know its short but hey it's a prologue, it can be.  
  
The League refers to the Justice League (pre-Starcrossed saga), who will be making about a chapter or two's worth appearance in this fic. I don't anticipate this one being very long, but there ya go.  
  
Comments, suggestions and, criticisms are all very much appreciated so PLEASE review.  
  
Till' next time.  
  
Light Hawk Sentinel. 


	2. First Impressions

Author' Notes: Still with me? Cool. Chapter One is here. Once again, I plead shamelessly to please review, especially with any criticisms you might have. I'd like to write the best story I possibly can.  
  
By the way, a HUGE shout out to my first EVER reviews: Rowlingfan217, Fading into Darkness, Waterangel117, Starlight, Dark Fire Fox, basest-8, and Fanfic Gurl. Thanks a lot. The fact that you took the time to say something after that measly little chapter really means a lot.  
  
In response to one of the reviewers, I do realize that Teen Titans is, at its heart, a cartoon. I just suck at humor. I will try to throw in the odd joke every now and then to keep things light, but no promises.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't have any affiliation with the Teen Titans or their creators. I'm making no money off of this, I'm simply a slightly obsessed fan.  
  
Quote(s) of the Update:  
  
_"Now remember, James. First impression is very important."_  
  
-Miss Spider speaking with James._ James and the Giant Peach  
_  
_"France is a **country**?!?!"_  
  
-Little brother (gotta love siblings…we argued about this for, like, an hour)  
  
Teen Titans: Origins  
  
Chapter 1: First Impressions  
  
The capsule opened…slowly. Painfully slowly. Perhaps it would have been easier on all of them if it had just snapped open. But no, it opened inch by inch…and at about seven feet long that was several inches. This gave everyone ample time to wonder what sort of hideous monster they had been delivered. Everyone in the room was tense. They all stood at ready, Raven with her arms raised, ready to cast any of the spells in her expansive repertoire. Cyborg stood with his cannon extended, slightly behind Robin, who had his staff out in a guard. Beast Boy was already in a Tyrannosaurus form, ready to make an extra lunch out of anyone who was ready to get too frisky.  
  
Finally, the thick, white gas dissipated around the pod. Robin inched forward and slowly peered over the edge and saw the form of a girl, with fire red hair, and two…spots on her forehead? She was tall, with a slender body. He couldn't help but notice the rags she wore, a black suit that hung loose on her frame, the same crimson bird they had seen emblazoned on the pod was on the chest of the suit. It, as was much of the suit, was tattered with holes. He deduced that she must have been wearing it for sometime…she was a prisoner perhaps? No way to really know.   
  
She was stirring now…mumbling some words he really didn't understand.   
  
Suddenly, snapped awake, her upper body pulling itself upward. She had this panicked, slightly frenzied look in her eyes as she looked around the confines of her pod before her eyes came to rest on the boy in front of her.  
  
Her eyes were the first thing he noticed about her. They were a deep emerald green, deeper than he had even seen before. Even after seeing them for only a few seconds, he realized how easy it could be to just become lost looking into her eyes. She was perspiring lightly on her brow and breathing heavily, despite the fact that she had just woken up. Taking in all of her, she was indisputably beautiful, gorgeous even, regardless of the frayed clothing she currently wore. He stood there for a few more seconds before he collapsed his staff, figuring if she was going to attack, she would have already.  
  
He dropped it before slowly raising his hands in a show of peace as well to prove he was unarmed,. "Who are you?" he asked.  
  
She looked at him, eyes displaying confusion, before responding, _"Dreina? Kad'ra lasiek kah poon?"  
  
_ He mentally slapped himself. There were over 200 languages on Earth alone, how could someone from outer space possibly understand English? He shook his head, looking apologetic "I'm sorry…I don't understand…"  
  
She looked slightly crestfallen at the fact that he didn't understand her words. Robin reached down toward his hand and slipped off his glove, never breaking eye contact from the strange girl. He reached with his hand, extending five fingers, showing his palm.  
  
At this, she responded most unexpectedly. Her eyes narrowed, the emerald globes that looked so beautiful and inviting before now looking very dangerous. She backed up in her pod before speaking with a cold edge in her voice that wasn't there at first before and pointing at him, _"Esta kaSha! Thaliona da slarrk wa! Ya soina harresk esta tiasko ya o Quel'Thal. Na o Xai! Ya soina!"_  
  
Startled by her sudden change in demeanor, he backed up a step. The other Titans started moving forward before Robin held out his hand to them and spoke in his leader voice, "No wait! She hasn't seen you yet! We don't know how she'll react to seeing all of us!" He glanced at Beast Boy in his T-Rex form. "Especially you."   
  
Beast Boy glanced down at himself, as if he had forgotten that he was currently inhabiting the form of the most ferocious predator in the history of Earth, albeit a little smaller so that he could fit inside the tower. _Oh yeah…Oops_. He snorted indignantly before taking a couple steps back.   
  
He looked at them imploringly, "Look just give me a sec, ok?"  
  
Raven and Cyborg looked at each other, neither of them relishing the thought of losing their leader. Raven shrugged and moved backwards. Cyborg sighed in resignation, nodding at him to continue.  
  
Robin turned his attention back to the girl in the pod, who was still looking at him with distrust. He spoke to her softly. "Look, we're not gonna hurt you. We just wanna know who you are."  
  
She looked at him suspiciously, her eyes while not looking at him with the obvious loathing he saw seconds ago, were still wary. She pointed at him again, _"Esta na Thaloina?"   
_  
He assumed she was talking about him. He shook his head, "No…uh…" He scratched the back of his head, as if wondering where to start. He straightened up before pointing to himself several times. "Me," he said, looking at her for comprehension.  
  
Still wary, she nodded her head in understanding.  
  
He nodded, relieved he could at least point at himself without offending her. He pointed at his own chest again, "Me," he shook his head and waved his arms in front of him, "No Thaliona." He waited while this information sunk in. When she nodded, he pointed at himself again, "Robin."  
  
She looked at him as if he understood. She pointed at him, "R-Robin?"  
  
He smiled and nodded. He pointed to himself again, "Robin."  
  
She smiled as well, also glad that they finally understood something. She pointed at herself, "Koriand'r Nova'alai Skeio Centerra a le Baiso a Tamaran."  
  
The smile on Robin's face disappeared. _Damn, that's a long name_. "Oh…" He grimaced behind his mask, he already knew he was going to butcher it. He pointed at her, before trying to attempt her name….feebly. "Koranda… uh, Ander? Noi vala…"  
  
She held up her hand, giggling. She must have decided to have mercy on him regarding her name. Still with a smile on her face, she pointed to herself again, all traces of mistrust gone, "Kory."  
  
He smiled, shoulders sagging in relief. She giggled lightly again and he chuckled with her.  
  
Behind him, the other Titans smiled, glad something went right amongst the exchange between Fearless Leader and Alien Stranger. Cyborg let his cannon revert back to his hand and Raven lowered her arms, letting the black energy dissipate from them. Beast Boy had not remembered, unfortunately, that he was still a carnivorous dinosaur with foot-long teeth.  
  
Robin, still smiling, pointed to her again and spoke, this time with much less dread, "Kory."  
  
She smiled, nodded, and pointed at him, "Robin."  
  
He liked her voice already. It was strangely and soft and comforting. It reminded him of his mother when she sang him lullabies when he was younger. He offered her his ungloved hand again, and this time, she accepted it.   
  
As he helped her up, her legs wobbled a bit. He reached out with his other hand to help steady her as she regained her balance. She smiled at him in gratitude while she got her feet back. She then looked upwards and noticed the other members of the room. When her eyes found Raven, the sorceress met them with a rare grin before she bowed her head slightly. Cyborg greeted her with a big cheesy smile and a wave that brought a smile to the young extraterrestrial's face. When she saw the huge hulking green mass that was currently Beast Boy, that smile vanished, her jaw dropped, and a look of fear graced her features.  
  
Beast Boy, completely oblivious to the effect he had on the girl attempted to smile, which did little to alleviate her fears as he exposed all of his razor sharp teeth. The smile he tried to add seemed to give him a predatory smirk, like a cat gets when he has a mouse cornered with nowhere to go.  
  
_ "Ahhh!!!"_ Her hands suddenly glowed with a green light before she launched twin bolts at the giant dinosaur. Beast Boy, totally not expecting laser beams to be fired at him (after all, he was just trying to be _friendly_) could do little more than watch in amazement as the bolts hit him in the chest. He growled loudly as he flew back and crashed into a wall on the other side of the room.  
  
As he picked himself up, Raven watched in surprise as the girl took off, heading towards Beast Boy to inflict more damage on the "monster." For someone who seemed so frail, she packed a punch. She also noticed that Beast Boy hadn't recovered from her first shot, and that more shots like the ones he just took could leave him out of commission for weeks. Then, she re-thought it, _That might not be so bad actually…_ Her meditation would go a lot more smoothly if she didn't have the human jungle crawling around her all the time. She decided letting an alien lay into him for a simple misunderstanding would be cruel, even by her standards. Her eyes turned black and she raised her arms in the air. As energies swept around her, her purple cloak flew up as if caught in a gust of wind.   
  
A moment before Kory's fist came crashing into Beast Boy's unsuspecting skull, a black shield incased her and she found herself surrounded by a black sphere. Her fist crashed into the shell, but it did little more than budge. She whipped her head around, trapped. She charged her hands again and starting slamming bolts in all directions in rapid secession against the sphere.  
  
Raven grimaced at the impact of the fist, and soon found herself struggling to keep her shell erected as Kory's energy blasts began slamming against it. She redoubled her efforts, not having expected this much of a fight from the girl, even after witnessing her blow on of the most ferocious creatures that ever lived clear across the room. Eventually, Kory's blasts slowed as she grew more tired.  
  
Beast Boy had, by now, finally come out of his dazed state and had sense enough to perhaps take on a less menacing form. As soon as he changed however, the effects of the green bolts that struck him came back and he started rubbing his chest, "Ow… it burns…" he muttered weekly.  
  
Kory had momentarily forgotten about the monster she was "defending" herself from as she concentrated all of her efforts on getting out of the shell. She tired quickly though after firing about 12 bolts. Her blasts grew weaker and weaker before her energy simply gave out and she collapsed on her knees inside the bubble. She did retain enough energy to keep her hands alight with green energy.  
  
Robin and Cyborg quickly made their way to the sphere and tried to get the attention of the now exhausted girl. Robin lightly knocked on the shell and Kory lifted her head. Cyborg waved his finger in an "uh uh uh" motion before pointing to the green boy currently clutching his chest. She looked at the changeling in shock before glancing around the room, making sure the monster with the obscenely large teeth was truly gone. She met Robin's masked eyes once more, who looked at her with an almost pleading look. She stared into his face for a few seconds before nodding in an unspoken agreement as she lower her head and let the energy fade out of her hands. At this he looked at Raven and nodded, who looked all too happy to release the hold she had around her.   
  
As the shell faded, Cyborg stepped forward to catch her before she hit the ground. She looked up at his face before smiling lightly, then promptly passing out.  
  
The room fell into silence. Robin reached out a hand and helped Beast Boy to his feet.  
  
Raven took a few steps towards Cyborg until she was next to him, getting a good look at Kory for the first time. "I was expecting something…different…" she said in her usual monotone.  
  
Robin nodded, " I think we all did."  
  
Beast Boy grinned up at Cyborg, "Guess you were wrong about the 40 eyes and tentacles, huh?"  
  
Cy smiled, "Yup. But I was on the money 'bout the shooting lasers, right?" he responded cheekily, nudging toward the marks on his chest.   
  
"Hey! Those things hurt, man! Oh, and by the way," he said looking towards Raven sheepishly, " thanks for the shell. I-"  
  
She held up a hand, stopping him mid-sentence. She turned that hand and offer it to him, "Stop crawling on me while I'm meditating and we'll call it even."  
  
He looked at her before looking at her outstretched hand, and then he turned to look at her again. She honestly tried to looked serious, but she couldn't help the barely noticeable smirk that snuck its way onto her face. He broke out into a grin at seeing this and shook her hand firmly. "Deal."  
  
She nodded, and then retracted her hand.   
  
"So, ah. I guess we need at do something' bout sleeping beauty here…" Cyborg commented, gesturing to the bundle in his arms.  
  
Robin caught on, "Uh…take her to the infirmary and, start up the diagnostic equipment. Raven, you go through your street clothes and see if you can find something for her to wear. You'll have to change her. We'll hafta contact the Justice League eventually if they don't already know about her, but for now let's just make her feel at home, ok?"  
  
Cyborg and Raven nodded, and went off about their assigned duties.  
  
"Well, hey." Beast Boy asked. "Whad'a we do?"  
  
Robin sighed and swept an arm towards the debris left by the pod's landing and Beast Boy's journey into the wall, "Clean up," he said.  
  
Beast Boy groaned, and looked around, wondering where to start before he saw the remnants of his beloved GameStation, crushed under the pod, "No!" he squeaked. He dropped to his knees and crawled over to where the corpse of his machine lay. He gathered the pieces in his hands and hugged them to his chest, tears in his eyes. "Oh my precious," he spoke mournfully, "you were too beautiful for this world…"  
  
Robin near gagged, "Come'on, BB. Let's get to work."  
  
As the Titans got down to business, whatever that may have been, it was impossible not to notice the sense of camaraderie and amity that was in the air. At realizing this, Robin shook his head in wonder. An alien ship crashing into their living room worked a lot better in getting them to bond than pizza ever did.

* * *

Kory awoke in a large room in a soft white bed. The room was a metallic blue and as she looked around, she noticed that there were five other beds in it, exactly like hers. The room was a lit only with the sunlight that filtered in through the window.  
  
She rolled her neck, getting rid of the kinks, and stretched herself out. How long had she been out? She sat there, still looking at her surroundings, and idly weighed her options in her head. She could, of course, leave. She really didn't want to be found. That was for sure. But then again, she knew nothing about where she was. That and the fact that she obviously didn't speak the native language posed a problem.  
  
She quickly tossed out that idea, deciding she would just have to stay here. She couldn't find a valid reason not to that didn't stem out of paranoia. They had given her a place to sleep. And new clothing, she noticed looking down at herself. She saw the rags she wore earlier and eyed them with distaste. She picked up the pile of clothing before placing them between her hands. She quickly charged her hands and passed green bolts back and forth through the clothing until they had been vaporized.  
  
She nodded to herself in satisfaction before flinging the covers off of her and swinging her legs out of the bed. When her feet hit the cold floor, she smacked her forehead, with a "d'oh!" expression on her face. The only footwear she had were in the pile she had just vaporized. She would just have to do without for now.  
  
She walked around the bed and over the large wooden doors. She looked to the left and right of the doors and saw a light switch. She flipped it and jumped in surprise as the room became a little brighter from the lights over head. She looked at them, surprised, before turning back to the light switch. She flipped it again and the lights extinguished. She then rapidly flipped the light switch, watching in wonder as the lights over head flickered on and off, on and off. She flipped them one last time, turning them off, and turned back to the door.   
  
She put a hand to her chin and fingered her bottom lip in contemplation. "Hmm…" Her eyes caught the door knobs and snapped her fingers, comprehension dawning on her. She pushed the left door knob and waited. When nothing happened, her head cocked to the sided and her eyes displayed confusion, "Huh?" She pushed the other one. Nothing. She pushed both of them at the same time. Still nothing. She sighed in frustration, tapping her foot and rested her hands on her hips. How was she going to figure out where she was when she couldn't figure out how to get out of the damn room? She glared at the door, as if blaming it for the fact she was stuck before she turned her attention to the knobs again.   
  
Shrugging, she grabbed the left one and pulled hard. Much to her surprise, the knob ripped straight out of the socket. She looked at the apparatus in her hand and glanced at the door and gasped when she saw the hole that was where the knob should have been. She blushed and tried to stick the knob back into its spot. The knob looked dilapidated, obviously broken, but it would have to do. She hoped no one noticed.  
  
She grabbed the one on the right and tugged and fiddled with it until she got a lucky twist in and the knob turned. Her eyes widened and she smiled, glad she had finally conquered the door. She pulled lightly and peeked her head out into the carpeted hallway. She hopped onto it, glad be off the cold floor in the other room. She lightly closed the door behind her. Luckily, she was at the end of the hallway, so there was only one way she could go.  
  
She padded her way down the hall, walking slowly as she was in no real hurry. She was however hungry, and she was hoping that that scent in the air was something edible. Following her nose, she kept walking, hoping to find some sustenance in this strange land, also hoping that there weren't any doors on the way.  
  
End Chapter One  
  
That's it for now. R&R!  
  
Till Next Time  
  
Light Hawk Sentinel 


	3. Cakes, Killers, and Kidnappers: The Brea...

**Author's notes**: I figure I should put something down about myself soon, so the Bio should actually have something on it by time this is posted. Once again, R&R! Comments, criticisms, complaints, Anon, and signed reviews are always welcome.  
  
I'm SO sorry this took so long to put up. I went out of town (Ft. Lauderdale, it was fun! Beach babes…(drools Homer Simpson style)). Also, this chapter was just hard to do and it just didn't flow as well as the first two. This is, I think, the final product of the fourth re-write. If you don't like it, I don't blame you. In, hopefully, happier news, I'll make a better effort in updating at least weekly or bi-weekly. Thanks for stickin' with me!  
  
Also, note the rating change from PG to PG-13.  
  
  
  
Quote of the Update:  
  
_ "Shrek!"  
  
"What?! It's a compliment! Better out than in I always say…"  
  
"Well that's no way to behave in front of a princess…"  
  
"BELCH! Hem…thanks!"  
  
"…"  
  
"…"  
  
"She's nasty as you are…"  
  
_Donkey, Shrek, and Princess Fiona_. Shrek.  
_   
Teen Titans: Origins  
  
Chapter Two: 'Cakes, Killers, and Kidnappers: The Breakfast of Champions  
  
_ Hiss…_  
  
Cyborg watched, much like a loving mother, over the pancake currently in the skillet. He scrutinized it, waiting for the right moment. Too soon, and the it would be runny. Too late, and a side would be burnt. Both were unacceptable to the levels of culinary perfection he had been aiming for. Soon, he saw it. _There it is!!   
_  
"Ha!" He attacked the pan, grabbing the handle of the skillet and lifting it slightly. This gave the pancake just enough lift to get barely off the hot surface and he deftly slipped his spatula under it. He launched the cake in there air. It flew high, flipping multiple times and almost hitting the ceiling before it dropped back down onto the skillet on its uncooked side, still a perfect circle.  
  
Beast Boy groaned from the couch in the living room. He had been watching him cook and at seeing Cy's routine, he collapsed laying down on the couch, looking straight into the ceiling. "Cyyyy! Quit showin' off! I'm hungry!"  
  
Cyborg glanced in his direction and frowned. Noticing his position, he waited a few seconds before he launched the same cake in the air. Robin and Raven watched from the bar table in the kitchen as it flew over their heads, heading into the living room. Beast Boy was completely oblivious to the cake's path, as he was no longer looking towards the kitchen and didn't even realize he was in danger until it was too late. The pastry landed on his face with a satisfying 'plop.'  
  
"Eat up," Cyborg said, smirking and pouring some more of his batter into the skillet.  
  
"Ugg…" Beast Boy proceeded to peel it off of his face. He sat up, taking a big bite out of the cake before folding it and pointing it at the half-robot, "Lame, dude," bits of pancake flying out of his mouth.  
  
Raven groaned in disgust, turning back to a well worn book and her steaming cup of tea.  
  
As Cy the Chef prepared another pancake, he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over and saw Kory hesitantly entering the living room. "Hey, look who's up!" he said grinning.  
  
Raven and Robin turned in their chairs and Beast Boy leaned over the back of the couch, hanging upside down, to look at who entered the room.  
  
Beast boy swallowed what he had in his mouth before waving, "Hiya!" he said brightly.  
  
She smiled and waved tentatively, _"Wayo,"_ she greeted softly. She looked around the room and saw 'Robin' again.  
  
When his eyes caught hers, he smiled, folded the newspaper he had been reading, and waved her over, gesturing to the empty chair next to him.  
  
She grinned and walked over to join him.  
  
As she walked across the room, Beast Boy noticed looked at her in mild amusement. "Wow, Raven. Didn't know you had anything other than black." Kory wore some baggy blue jeans and a green shirt, things that were, indeed, kind of un-Raven.  
  
A vein popped and disappeared in Raven's forehead and she turned a page, not bothering to turn around. A butcher's knife suddenly levitated in the kitchen and turned to point at the green elfin character, "Didn't know you wanted to see the afterlife…"  
  
Beast Boy gulped, "Heh…shutting up now…"  
  
The knife dropped. "Good boy."  
  
Kory sat down in the stool next to Robin and looked toward the mechaniod person currently that seemed to be producing some heavenly smells. She felt her mouth water. No food had been available in the pod. Add that to how ever long she had been out and who knew how long it had been since she had last eaten. Her stomach growled loudly in anticipation of food and she tuned to the boy next to her, who looked at her in a mixture of mild surprise and amusement.   
  
He chuckled, "Hungry?"   
  
She could only blush in response.  
  
"Well she should be. She's been out for a good 18 hours," said Cyborg, placing the last of the pancakes on the stack. "It's ready, BB," he called over to the living room.  
  
He flipped up off of the couch, "Bout time."  
  
Cyborg placed a plate, each stacked with three pancakes, in front of each of the four and placed another stack of extras off to the side. He grabbed some for himself before he sat down to eat.  
  
Kory watched the others, figuring it couldn't be too hard to learn how they ate. She watched a little while and picked up the spiked utensil and tried to cut the round, brown disks that sat atop the larger round, white disk, which she assumed wasn't edible. They gave easily and she turned the fork in her hand and stabbed the disk pieces. She looked at the others one last time, just to make sure she wasn't making any mistake before she placed the pieces in her mouth. "Hmm…" They were good.   
  
She glanced up at the mechaniod man again, who had been looking at her. He smiled largely at her, seeing that his cooking was liked by people even on different worlds. Nodding enthusiastically, congratulating himself on his skills, he turned back to his plate.  
  
Kory swallowed the food in her mouth. While good, it was kind of dry... She looked around at the table and saw Beast Boy pouring massive amounts of syrup on his pancakes. She looked around her, looking for such a container and saw a yellow bottle. She grabbed it, thinking it probably contained the same stuff and tipped it over. When none came out, she squeezed it lightly and squirted a yellow substance onto a small portion of the disks. Picking up the fork again, she cut off a piece covered in the yellow cream and placed it in her mouth.  
  
A loud moan from next to him drew Robin's attention and he turned to the alien girl. He watched with a completely blank face as Kory picked up a bottle of mustard and squirted it in a spiral pattern all over her pancakes. She gabbed her fork and dove into the pancakes. She stopped momentarily, chewing. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, reveling in the taste before swallowing and going back into the fray.  
  
She had failed to notice that all the Titans were looking at her, some in amazement, others slightly nauseated. Robin had half a mind to show her how to use actual syrup, but at seeing her obvious pleasure with the mustard, he really didn't have the heart to.  
  
Finishing off that batch, she took her fork and stabbed in into the spare pile, placing three more pancakes on her plate. Smothering this batch with mustard, she ate some more, the wonderful taste making her complexly oblivious to the others' reactions. Every time she took a bite, it almost seemed like she was having an erotic experience. It was, quite frankly, kind of disturbing.  
  
"Quite frankly," Cyborg commented, eye twitching slightly but smiling nonetheless, "That's kind of disturbing…"   
  
"It's not disturbing…" Raven said. The other three Earth-hailing Titans turned to look at her, waiting for an explanation. "It's…" She waved her hands in the air, searching for the right words, "…creative?" She asked, tentatively.  
  
It was kind of hard to argue with that…  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Kory would go on to finish off eight mustard-laden pancakes and two glasses of orange juice. She had been, indeed, very hungry.  
  
Now, Kory stood on a glazed, wooden floor, clutching a orange ball in her hand. She had the biggest of grins on her face as she stood in a wide stance, waiting, examining her opponent's stance, looking for a weakness of some kind.  
  
Kory had been quite confused at the start to tell the truth. Beast Boy had given her a spare set of sneakers to wear before he, Robin, Raven, and Cyborg (well, less so Raven, who pleaded referee) tried to teach her how to perform this strange custom where one tossed an orange sphere into a metallic circle, adorned with some sort of netting which she had once assumed had some religious significance.   
  
She found her self doubting this theory after a while, for if it was a religious ceremony, Beast Boy was inexcusably bad at it.  
  
In addition, the others made no effort to compose themselves in a semi-serious manner at all, they were enjoying themselves far too much for them be involved in anything religious. Eventually, she learned that it was imperative that the ball stay bouncing at all times before, somehow, sending it through the circle hanging above. She had gotten the hang of it after a while and found a strange delight in the swish sound the ropes made when the ball went in.   
  
She now stood across from Robin, intent on finding the easiest way to the Circle. She thought she might have seen a weakness in Robin's defensive posture, but she would never really know, for suddenly, red lights flashed inside the court and a loud irritating noise blared inside the gym.   
  
She shrieked and instincts kicked in. Without ever really thinking about it, she used her superior hearing to determine the location of the blaring noises and launched bolts at the sirens. The bolts collided with them and they were quickly obliterated, cutting the noise off abruptly.   
  
Cyborg watched her, still looking around the loom for another threat, and blinked in surprise, "Nice shot…"  
  
"Titans, GO!" Robin shouted, running off the court.  
  
As the others followed him, Kory stood in the middle of the court in confusion.  
  
On his way out Beast Boy pointed to her, grabbing her attention, and then gestured downward, meaning for her to stay here, and followed Robin out the court.  
  
Kory glanced around in the direction green one had been pointing and saw the ball. She grabbed it and walked it over to the rack. After putting the ball up, she realized the others ad left and she was by herself in the room with the creepy flashing red lights. Not feeling comfortable being alone, she ran out the door of the gymnasium, looking for the others. She ran around the complex, searching as low as the garage and as high as the roof, becoming increasingly worried when she could not find them.  
  
Minutes later, and purely by chance, she passed by a window and saw the diminishing figures of Raven and a large green flyer soaring towards the large skyscrapers. Relief flooding her, she busted open the window with her fist, stepped up to the ledge and jumped, chasing after our heroes through the air.  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
"Thank you for your cooperation, good citizens of Jump City!" the man shouted, grinning widely. There was nothing quite like a plan going off with a hitch. An armored truck, chock full of cash, gold, diamonds, all theirs. Boss would be pleased. But he wasn't into this solely for the money. He got a different pleasure out of this.   
  
He looked around the room at the faces of those who were unfortunately in the bank at the time of their heist. He took in the expressions of each and every one and got a little jolt down his spine that gave him an unrivaled pleasure. One could tell simply by looking at them that they were all of different races, ages, and social status, but he saw one similarity between all of them. Fear. He waved his gun around the room, purposely in a lazy and nonchalant fashion, and felt more of the same jolt when he heard the terrified tremors from the victims the gun momentarily pointed to.   
  
He squeezed the trigger and the loud bang from the discharge sounded. He didn't hit anybody, but that wasn't his point. He felt the perverse pleasure once more as frightened shrieks reverberated in his ear. "Oops…" he said, a sadistic laugh creeping out of his mouth. "Did I hit any one?" he asked, looking around the room. "No?" he sighed dramatically before turning to his five cohorts, all dressed in black suits, "Ah well…better luck next time…"  
  
They chuckled at his joke. He really was only kidding. Guns were against their code. They were allowed to injure on some occasions with them, but even those were rare. Guns could be used for show however they wanted to, though, and Darril was certainly making a show out of his now…  
  
At hearing the man's comment, a young girl, about 8 maybe, let out a strangled cry. She had been brave this whole time, really. Much braver than most girls or boys years older that her could have ever been. But at hearing his obvious lack of concern over whether they lived or not, she simply lost control.  
  
The man turned at hearing the cries and spotted the young girl and a predatory smirk graced his face. _Too perfect…_ Approaching the girl, he got down on one knee and reached out, attempting to put his hand on her shoulder. Her mother pulled her away, inches before his hand landed, and held her in a tight embrace.   
  
The man raised an eyebrow. _She's got guts…_ He stared into the woman's eyes. Hers bored into him, looking defiant, but he saw the terror, the fear….  
  
He reached down to his waist and slowly drew the short sword there, his actual weapon of choice. As soon as the tip of the sword cleared its scabbard, he quickly swiped it, stopping it directly in front of the young woman's throat and pressed forward, resting the blade's tip on it. While he didn't add any pressure, the woman's sudden violent trembling caused the sharp point to penetrate the skin, allowing small trickles of blood to run down it, mixing with the fear-induced perspiration before falling to the floor.  
  
"What is your daughter's name?" he asked, in a tone that was not to be trifled with.  
  
She took a steadying breath, still trying to stay strong, but still unable to keep the trembles out of her voice, "J-Jessie."  
  
"Hmm…" he said. He twirled the blade slowly in his hands, allowing it to go one revolution. While he wasn't looking at her, he saw her wince as it penetrated deeper out of the corner of his eye. "Pretty…" Her breath hitched. The tears were now too far in number to be held back as they trickled down her cheeks. He spoke again, ice in his voice, "We wouldn't want Jessie to see anything…unpleasant today now would we?"  
  
Her shoulders hitched once, then twice, then in rapid succession as sobs racked her. She shook her head and released her grip on her daughter.  
  
"Mommy?" Jessie asked frightened, confused as to why her mother was letting the man take her.   
  
"Come with me girl…"he grabbed the girl's hand and stood, making her come along with him. He looked around the room, delighting in the sheer horror on the faces of the hostages. He heard snickering from his gang and turned to them, "Bags filled?"  
  
A lady, Jane, straightened her black tie and smiled, "To the brim."  
  
Satisfied, he turned back to the girl, "Now," he said in a seemingly gentle voice, but loud enough for every one in the dead silent back to hear, "why are you so scared?" he asked.  
  
Sniffling, she stood up straight, exerting an exceptionally uncommon bravery, and spoke, "You're going to hurt us…"  
  
"But I haven't hurt anyone, yet!" he argued before he stopped and placed his hand on his chin in thought, "Well except for those guys," He gestured over to a pile of six of seven guards, laying in an ever growing pool of their own blood. All dead, mutilated, from various kinds of wounds.   
  
The girl looked over to where he pointed and quickly looked away covering her eyes, choking up on tears again.  
  
He chuckled sadistically.  
  
The sound of sirens could be faintly heard off in the distance.  
  
Darril's eye twitched.   
  
"Oh, we're saved!" a woman exclaimed in jubilation.   
  
Darril turned to his troupe, "Time?"  
  
Jane responded, "Seven minutes. They came early."  
  
"Aww, shit!" one of the less cool headed gangsters, Rick, exclaimed. By his lack of a tie, Darril gathered he was a rookie. _Figures_…"What now?!"  
  
Darril raised an eyebrow. This was unexpected. They were stuck till the choppers arrived, and seven minutes was too long to give both the police and those new punks on the block, the Titans. They needed some insurance, a fail-safe. At that moment, Jessie tried to make a break for it. She twisted her arm, momentarily freeing herself, and made a beeline straight for her mom. Darril's eyes narrowed dangerously and his hand snapped out and grabbed the girl by the back of her neck.   
  
"Owww!!!"  
  
Her mother gasped, "Jessie!!"  
  
He reached into his pocket and dropped something on the ground and the turned to his group, "We stick to the plan. Let's move." He changed his grip on the girl and picked her up by her stomach. He moved across the room and kicked open a door, his team right behind. Going into the stairwell, he felt his confidence in their situation return.   
  
_And why not,_ he thought, feeling the little eight year old squirming in his arms, crying weakly. He _did _have his insurance…  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Robin slowed his bike, turned off the ignition, and hopped off, all in one smooth, obviously well practiced, motion. "Come on, Cy," he told his cybernetic teammate, sitting in the passenger buggy that was obviously way too small for him. What could they do though? It was too much of a drain on Beast Boy and Raven to carry him. Robin flipped the kickstand and walked over to the nearest police car, who had arrived not a full minute ahead of them.   
  
"Gladly," Cyborg responded and placed his hands on the side of the cart and tried pushing himself out…he didn't budge. He groaned, "Come on, lemme OUT!" Frustrated, Cyborg shot up, finally reaching a standing position, but unfortunately taking pieces of the now disfigured cart with him as he stood. He groaned again. He peeled the stubborn pieces of the buggy off of him and threw them unceremoniously into the cart. Muttering something about 'building his own damn car,' he walked over to join Robin, Raven and Beast Boy not too far behind him.  
  
"Chief," Robin greeted, very business-like, extending a hand.  
  
The man shook it, "Robin." He looked at the other behind the Boy wonder and nodded at them, "Titans."  
  
Cyborg dipped his head while Beast Boy waved, "Sup." Raven chose not to respond.  
  
"So," Robin continued, "what happened?"  
  
The chief shook his head gravely, lighting a cigarette and turning back to the bank, "Robbery. A ballsy one, too." He took a long drag, an indication Robin knew from his time in Gotham that it was probably something bad .   
  
"That's bad for ya health, you know," Cyborg commented.  
  
He shrugged, not really caring. "Priceless jewels, gone. Loads of cash with it. Plus, six elite security officers, the best the department had to offer…"he trailed off a bit. He looked Robin square in the eye, "Dead."  
  
Beast Boy gasped, "D-dead?!"  
  
The chief nodded. "Its gets worse."  
  
While a wail of sorts drew Raven's attention. She turned to a nearby car to see a woman pleading with a nearby officer in obvious desperation, "Please! You have to help her! Y-you! You didn't see the way th-they…" Her throat tightened, robbing her of her voice momentarily as memories cam back to haunt her, "They k-killed th-them. The guards! All of them! And they're gonna…" her voice completely abandoned her as sobs racked her body.  
  
The officer nodded, humoring her, but otherwise looked unmoved, "Look, lady, I understand. But until we get clearance, nobody goes into the building,. And that means _nobody_. Now I'm gonna ask you again to get back or I'm going to have someone to carry you back."  
  
Raven felt her blood boil slightly over the officer's harsh treatment over such an obviously distressed lady. A nearby streetlight cracked and busted, glass shards raining around her feet. Taking a steadying breath, she quickly calmed her self and walked over to the woman, who had collapsed onto the ground, hugging her knees.  
  
Upon approaching, Raven noticed she was pretty young, also the bandage wrapped around her neck… So wrapped up in her own sorrow, she had failed to even notice the young Titan approaching.  
  
"Um, excuse me ma'am?" she asked, with considerably more warmth in her voice than she usually addressed her friends with. The woman spared her the briefest of glances and realized who she was speaking to. She let go of her knees and straightened her body wiping her face, as if trying to retain some since of dignity, not that Raven would have judged her anyway, and stared into the young heroin, defiance in her eyes.  
  
Sniffing once, she responded, "If you're the one that's here to force me out, _demon_, then you'd better get to draggin'!" Her misdirected anger began to mix with her despair as her lip began to tremble, her already fragile emotional dam getting ready to unleash a torrential flood of tears again,_ "I'm not **leaving **without my **daughter**!"_  
  
Raven felt her stomach clench and was suddenly forced to resist the urge to hurl the woman across the globe and let the demon comment slide. "Your daughter?" she asked, her voice back to carrying the ice it usually did.  
  
The woman nodded, "I-I couldn't save her…I tried bu-"  
  
"Where is she?" she interrupted with seemingly no sensitivity to the mother's currently delicate psyche . While she honestly was concerned about the woman's current emotional state, she wasn't much for consoling people. And even if she was, it would all be for naught if her daughter wound up dead because she spent too long patting her back.  
  
"I don't know…" the woman snapped, her arms jerking, frustrated. She looked around aimlessly, as if searching for something that might not have rested in the center of the network of police cars and tape they currently sat instead of inside her bewildered mind. "They went through a door. A-a-a staircase, maybe?" she stammered.  
  
Raven nodded, figuring she could use the information she had well enough. "I'll be back." she parted with the mother and walked back towards her teammates, a plan of action forming in her head.  
  
"Robin," she called loudly, grabbing his and the two other Titans' attentions away from the chief of police over all of the hubbub occurring at the crime scene.  
  
"We've a hostage situation."  
  
At this his eyes did bulge, both with shock and anger.  
  
"What?!" Cyborg growled from behind him, seemingly just as angry as Robin over the news.  
  
She nodded in an affirmative and turned and pointed at the woman, who hadn't moved from her spot. Her head hung and while she wasn't sobbing, tears ran freely out of her puffy red eyes and down the contours of her face. She looked defeated, miserable. Broken.  
  
"Apparently, they took her daughter before she could do anything about it. She thinks they went into a stairwell."  
  
Beast Boy took his fist and punched his hand and anger, a determined look on his face. "Aw dude, we're so in there!"  
  
Cyborg smiled and firmly placed a hand on his green comrade's shoulder, "I hear ya, little man, Let's do this!"  
  
"Wait a minute, hold on!" the chief interrupted, anger on his face, cigarette bending in his mouth. "Until we get clearance from commissioner Jacobs, _nobody_! Goes. In. To That. Building!"  
  
Robin smirked, "Sorry, officer. No disrespect to the commissioner or the force but-"  
  
"-We don't do clearance." Raven finished.  
  
The other three nodded at this and, ignoring the shocked sputters from chief, headed on into the building.  
  
"Later, dude!"  
  
He stared, in shock, mouth agape, at the spot the Titans had just occupied, still not believing he had been just…so…dissed! Suddenly snapping out of it, he grabbed the nicotine stick out of his mouth, threw it on the ground, and stomped at it repeatedly, cursing all the while and effectively grabbing the attention of everyone in the area.   
  
When he finished his tirade, he looked around to see everyone had stopped whatever it was they were doing just to stare at him. He flushed in embarrassment before doing what he did back. "GET BACK TO WORK!"  
  
Everyone started, and hastily resumed whatever task they were performing, not wanting to incur more of the chief's wrath.  
  
The chief turned away, satisfied with his results, dug into a pocket on his trench coat and pulled out another cigarette and pit in his mouth.  
  
"Damn kids," he muttered, bringing the lighter to his face.  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
"So, yea. We know that they're in the building, but that's it? This place is 50 stories tall, easy! We don't have time to search_ every_ floor in the building!"  
  
Robin gazed around the bottom floor of the bank in thought. What Beast Boy said was true, besides that fact that the criminals went upwards, they didn't really know where they went. He turned to Cyborg.  
  
"Cyborg, pull up the design blueprints to the building on this building."  
  
The android nodded and beeped a few buttons on his arm, "Got 'em"  
  
"Is there anyway to leave the premises through any of the sub-level floors?"   
  
A few more buttons. "Uh…no, why?"  
  
Raven had already picked up on Robin's line of thinking, "They're going to be looking for a way out. If there are no escapes from the basement and the police have the ground floor blocked off…"  
  
"Then they're headed to the roof, gochya." Cyborg finished, catching on.  
  
"Got a plan Bird Brain?" Beast Boy asked.  
  
Robin scanned the ground and his eyes spotted something, a feather. He walked over to the object and picked it up showing it to his teammates.  
  
Cyborg's eyes narrowed upon seeing the object, "The Flock."  
  
Robin nodded, "We find the girl, but we do everything in our power to get these guys. We can't let them get away this time. We clip their wings _today_."  
  
The others nodded.   
  
"Let's go."  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Kory touched down a block away from the bank and ran towards the crime scene. She thought this was where they landed. She looked around for her new hosts, but al she found were various people wearing dark garbs and a maze of blue and white vehicles. Oh, and an irate man who stomped as if a flesh-consuming, Grak-lug beetle had been trying to eat his foot. She couldn't help but think he looked kind of silly turning red like that, but perhaps it was custom, so who was she to judge?   
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Robin burst through the rooftop stairwell, followed by his three teammates.  
  
"Ah, Titans!" Darril greeted, short sword in his hand blade resting against the throat of the trembling little girl he held by his side. His other five partners turned at their arrival, pulling various weapons, out of a variety of places. Two others had swords, another pulled a pair of knives, and the last two pulled staffs. None looked as confident as Darril. "How good of you to join us. You're just in time to hear our demands!"  
  
Robin' eyes narrowed. His muscles trembled slightly, not out fear, but from the anticipation of the battle to come. A battle he wanted.  
  
The Flock was the gang, headed by the Kingpin, that had terrorized both the Titans and the city. A group that frustrated him to no end. They ran the illegal activity in this city. Murder, robbery, prostitution. The Flock had first dibs on all of it and everyone knew it. Right now, if anyone owned this city, they did. Not the mayor, not the police, and certainly not the people.   
  
While they were all, indeed technically very skilled with their weapon, they weren't losing to them off their skill. It was their sheer numbers. They, often, had anywhere form twelve to twenty people on any one heist, where the Titans only had four. Also, the Titans weren't aiming to kill. They were. The few members they did capture were often either rookies or Blacks. Not the skin color, the tie color. Level one operatives. People who knew basically nothing about the upper levels of the Flock. Looking at the leader's red tie, Robin knew there was some information in that head of his.  
  
He gritted his teeth in anger. And now, when the odds weren't so heavily favored towards them and they actually had a decent shot of taking some of them down, they pulled a hostage. _Cowards…_  
  
"Calm down, Robin," Raven muttered, "we have no leverage here. You know as well as I do that the girl comes first."  
  
Robin grunted in response. He relaxed the fists he wasn't even aware he was clenching, "Fine, what do you want?"  
  
"Back up. All of you," Darril responded. "Put your hands on your heads and go to the far side of the roof."  
  
Robin nodded and reluctantly began to comply with his orders and the others followed his lead. When he could go no further, he stopped.   
  
"Good boy. Now have a seat. We'll be out of your hair soon enough."  
  
As if on cue, the sound of helicopters could be heard in the distance. The leader began barking out orders to the others, who quickly scrambled to get the bags of goods they carried. Two choppers arrived quickly, and the criminals began loading up.  
  
Beast Boy looked on in anger, "Come on guys there's gotta be something we can do! We can't just let them leave! Rae, can't you like throw the leader?"  
  
She shook her head. "Since he' in such close proximity to the girl, it would take extra concentration to separate them, thus slowing the effects of the spell. He'd realize what I was doing before I could finish. The girl would be endangered."  
  
Cyborg sighed in anger, "Ug, I can't stand being this helpless."  
  
A voice blared on Robin's communicator, _"Ksshhhhht. This is Chief. Why are they loading up those choppers?!?! You're gonna let them get away!!"  
_  
Robin frowned before growling into his communicator that, luckily, didn't require the use of hands, "They still have a hostage! We can't interfere!"  
  
A groan crawled over the speaker of the communicator, _"This is exactly why this city doesn't **need** you damn kids! If you had just let the trained professionals deal with it we wouldn't be in this-!"_  
  
Robin, reached down grabbed the communicator off of his belt and yelled into it before tossing it over his shoulder, "SHUT IT!"  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Down below Chief stared into his walkie-talkie in surprise until he heard a shout, "Heads Up!"  
  
He looked upwards and jumped back quickly as yellow device flew down and crashed where he stood just seconds before, breaking on impact. Staring into it, he saw the crumpled 'T' logo and he realized what it was. Throwing his own walkie-talkie in anger, shattering in right next to the Titan's one, he straightened and pointed a trembling finger at the roof, yelling across the mass of police cars. _"Get me SWAT team up there **now**!"_  
  
Had he not been so angry, he might have noticed the girl in a simple shirt and blue jeans floating towards the top of the building, and look of curiosity written all over her face.  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Robin watched in disgust as the crooks loaded up the rest of the cargo into the choppers. As they finished up, he waited for the moment where they released the girl so he could get up and unleash a serious case of frustration against the criminals…But it never came. He watched as the criminals began to get into the helicopters themselves, they took the girl with them as they began to raise into the ground. Unable to take anymore, he jumped up from his spot, running to the opposite end of the roof. "What are you doing?!" He shouted over the roar of the helicopters, "You've got what you want! Now, let the girl go!"  
  
He, unfortunately didn't see a gangster towards the rear of the other helicopter load a cannon and point it towards the young heroes.   
  
_ BAM!_  
  
Robin turned, too late he realized, as the netting fired by the cannon encased he and his fellow heroes. He struggled against the ropes, in vain, until the leader, still holding the girl, leaned out the side of the helicopter, "Let her go?" he asked loudly. Robin's blood chilled. Darril looked up and down at the girl in his arms, crying freely, clutching on to him, before sending a shrugging gesture towards Robin, "Suit yourself!" Grabbing the girl by the neck, he carelessly tossed her out of the chopper.  
  
The Titans stared in shock as the screaming little girl missed the ledge of the roof and disappeared from view, undoubtedly heading to the hard surface of the unforgiving concrete below.  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
Kory found her self flying towards the top of the building, heading towards the loud mechanical vehicles floating in the sky. She briefly wondered what was going on until she saw a man leaning out of one of the vehicles. A look of curiosity filled her face that quickly turned to surprise as a young body suddenly flew out of the chopper. She, luckily, had been in just the perfect position to catch whatever it was thrown out of the plane. She fell about six or seven stories before she fell into her arms. Looking at the bundle in her arms, shock registered on her face as she realized it was just a pup of a girl, tears streaming down her cheeks, fear written on all of her features.  
  
Was this some kind of joke?! Tossing flightless people from up high with no method of landing safely was simply intolerable! Anger filled the Tamaranian's features as she flew up, eyes blazing, with much higher speed. When she reached the roof, sat put the girl down, who collapsed, trembling. She turned her attention towards the choppers, whose occupants started at her in shock.  
  
"GO! GO! GO!" The people commanded the robot pilot of the choppers. Kory lit her hands and was about to blast the vehicles into dust until she heard her name called.  
  
"Kory?!?!" Beast Boy called in surprise.  
  
She turned to see all of her hosts trapped under a net. She looked at them in confusion, as if wondering why they would crawl under such a device.   
  
"Dude perfect timing!"  
  
Robin smiled at her and gestured at the ropes that bound them. She nodded in comprehension and grabbed and tossed the netting off of them with relative ease. Turning around, she quickly took off, righteous anger fueling her chase of the leader's retreating flying machine.  
  
Robin quickly assessed the situation, "Raven, help Kory! Cy, Beast Boy you're with me! GO!" Having given his orders, he quickly turned, sprinted towards the end of the roof, and launched himself towards the other helicopter, grabbing one of the "feet."   
  
Raven took off, tailing Kory, and Beast Boy took his falcon form, following Robin. Cyborg ran to the edge of the roof and shouted, "HEY! I can't fly! What am I supposed at do!?!?"  
  
"Take my bike!" called the fading voice. Cyborg groaned and turned on his heels, heading towards the rooftop staircase.  
  
The chase was on.  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
End Chapter.  
  
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
  
'Til Next Time!  
  
Light Hawk Sentinel 


End file.
